Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/344

Rh a somewhat common appearance; they are “businessmen” from head to foot.

I spend most of my time in my pleasant little stateroom, or in walking backwards and forwards under the piazza in front of it, where I amuse myself by the spectacle of the river and its shores. The waters of the Mississippi still retain their bright, yellow-green colour, though they are beginning to be turbid. Three-decked steamers, large and small, with their pair of chimneys, puffing out vehemently under the influence of “high-pressure” as they advance up the stream, speed past us; vast timber-floats, upon which people both build and cook, row down the stream with gigantic oars; covered barks, vessels, and boats of every description and size are seen upon the river. It becomes more animated and broader; but still continues to flow on with a majestic calmness.

On our right lies the State of Iowa, Illinois on the left. The views are grand and extensive; broad stretches of valley expand; the hills become lower; the land, to a great distance, slopes gradually down to the river in gentle, billowy meadows, with a back-ground of wood. It has a beautiful and fertile appearance, but is not much cultivated. We are now in the corn regions of the Mississippi Valley; rich in all kinds of grain, but principally in the rich golden-yellow maize.

Along the Mississippi, through its whole extent, from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, lies a pearl-band of States. There are on the eastern side of the river, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana; and on the western side, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, for, like Minnesota, Louisiana embraces both banks of the Mississippi; Minnesota at its commencement among the hills, Louisiana at its outlet into the sea. Between these two States, Minnesota in the north, and Louisiana in the south, flows the Mississippi